Regan Ballantine, the mother of 17-year-old Wesley Ballantine, said the fine was "insufficient" and an insult on her son's life.

Regan Ballantine, passionate work safety advocate, has called on changes to the judicial system to make companies accountable for industrial manslaughter. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola

"This is just an example of the two-tiered justice system which has one set of rules for the common person and another set of rules for people who sit behind their corporate veils," she said.

"We are talking about a situation where the head contractor knew there was an 'obvious and high-risk hazard' on the site but did nothing about it. But why would they? There are no consequences."

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Valmont pleaded guilty to failing to ensure subcontractors were not exposed to hazards on site and was fined $38,000 in the Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday.

The company had been hired for the final stage of the refurbishment of the Old Post Office building in the Perth CBD, which included fitting a steel-and-glass atrium roof between two floors.

Wesley Ballantine, killed at a CBD work site in 2017, was just 17 years old. Credit:Facebook

On January 4, 2017, Mr Ballantine was working as a steel fabricator for Industrial Construction Services and was on night shift at 4.30am installing a glass ceiling when he fell through a void.

He was rushed to Royal Perth Hospital but later died.

The court heard a Valmont site supervisor had seen Mr Ballantine and his manager on the atrium steel framework not wearing safety harnesses before the accident.

"They were called down and told to wear their safety harnesses and personal protective equipment but there was no adequate fall injury prevention system for them to connect their harnesses to," WorkSafe WA Commissioner Darren Kavanagh said.

Mr Kavanagh said the site supervisor did not follow his own company's procedures and the company deserved to be prosecuted over their failure to protect workers.

"Although it was not alleged that Valmont caused Wesley's death, the company failed in its duty to ensure that its subcontractor was working safely, something the company was obliged to do under WA's workplace safety laws," he said.

Ms Ballantine, a passionate workplace advocate, said Valmont should have incurred the maximum penalty of $200,000 for failing to provide duty of care and called on legislation changes to increase accountability for companies involved in industrial manslaughter cases.

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"If failure to provide a duty of care which results in death is not enough to incur the maximum penalty, what is?" she said.

"What kind of message does that send industry and how much of an insult is that on my son's life?"

"Three things need to change; the value which is placed on human life by the judiciary; outlawing insurance companies' ability to pay fines; and where a party has wilfully neglected the safety of their workforce and it results in death, a jail sentence should apply."

Valmont's court appearance is the first of four cases before the courts related to the incident.

Mr Ballantine’s employer Industrial Construction Services and its director and manager Adam Forsyth and Luke Corderoy have all been charged over the teenager’s death.